Review: Golden Son by Pierce Brown

This is a personal story. One that explores the emotional turmoil that life’s challenges bring us. Darrow au Andromedus is an agent of change. A mole, a spy, a revolutionary, Darrow is innocence angered. Driven by anger, he finds torment in the wake created by his wrath, by his folly, by his force of will. In that wake, bystanders die; citizens, servants, slaves. His friends die, enemies are born, vengeance is carried out, blood feuds perpetuate, and duplicity devastates those who trust.

For Darrow, whose existence is a bold lie as an infiltrator of Gold society, cannot escape the irony that in order to find the truth that could create a better society, he must perpetuate the ultimate betrayal wrought by his dishonest manipulation. His friends do not know him, his true identity, nor his ultimate purpose: to destroy everything they believe in, and take the privilege they know to be their right.

We see the effect it has on Darrow because in him is not the sinister power hungry tyrant. We watch him wrestle more with the internal strife of how his actions cause others to suffer, than with the physical combat he engages in verses his external enemies personified. To a large extent this is a study in how lies can enslave those who perpetuate them as much as they control and manipulate those deceived. Honesty, loyalty, friendship, these are the themes given fair rendering by the author.

This is a personal story told about a public cause, for Darrow has been inspired by the actions of others. By Eo, by Ares, by Dancer, by Virginia, and perhaps most of all by Nero. The stakes could not be higher. His entire civilization, billions of lives, the future of generations, entire heritages, all hinge on who wins the struggle and at what cost. Passions run high right along with them. So as we read along we have the experience of some vicarious pleasure, without the risk to life, limb, and everyone dear to us.

What I didn’t like.

I did not enjoy seeing Darrow go through the emotional anguish that came with each dangerous liaison, each painful decision, each hurtful act. Perhaps I’m too sensitive. It is part of the story. It must be a reason why we say you have to take the good with the bad. Or should it be the bad with the good?

I found it hard to accept that Darrow would forget about Evey and Harmony so easily, because it goes against his character. I didn’t. The author apparently did. Along with the gift to Adrius.

What you should know.

Golden Son is part II of a trilogy and follows a few years after the conclusion of part I Red Rising. Read it before you read Golden Son. This is a balanced mixture of science fiction, suspense, war, and Shakespearean melodrama. In my opinion it bends the traditional attempts to pigeonhole it into just one genre per se. You wouldn’t enjoy this novel as much if you don’t find the fun in lines like this: